I'm just going to direct you towards CNN, or whatever network is airing Libya coverage for the moment. I'm watching Sara Sidner inside the Gadhafi compound in Tripoli, who can barely get a word in edgewise over all the celebratory gunfire. According to Sidner, the rebels have taken so much ammunition from Gadhafi, and they are so assured of victory, that they now feel free to waste ammo by firing it into the air.
This includes anti-aircraft missiles. Celebratory anti-aircraft missiles.
There is no sign yet of Gadhafi himself- he may have fled the country for all we know- but at this point, there does not appear to be much he could do anymore anyway.
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Oslo Bombing
There has just been a pair of explosions in government buildings in Oslo, Norway; one near the Prime Minister's office and one nearby Parliament. Windows in multiple buildings were blown out. Two people are confirmed dead. Police are calling it a bombing.
At some point after the explosions, shots were fired at a politically-oriented youth meeting on Utoya island, just off the coast of Oslo by a man disguised as a police officer. The meeting was well-attended by the Labor Party, the party currently in power in Norway.
Right now, most other details are still very, very sketchy.
EDIT: The death toll now sits at seven.
At some point after the explosions, shots were fired at a politically-oriented youth meeting on Utoya island, just off the coast of Oslo by a man disguised as a police officer. The meeting was well-attended by the Labor Party, the party currently in power in Norway.
Right now, most other details are still very, very sketchy.
EDIT: The death toll now sits at seven.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Your Atlas Is Obsolete Again
Congratulations to South Sudan on their now-official independence. Best of luck to you.
And, of course, best of luck also to what we should probably start calling North Sudan, which has now lost most of its oil but keeps the long-ongoing Darfur crisis, and sprouts a new crisis in South Kordofan, which wanted to join South Sudan but didn't get the chance.
And, of course, best of luck also to what we should probably start calling North Sudan, which has now lost most of its oil but keeps the long-ongoing Darfur crisis, and sprouts a new crisis in South Kordofan, which wanted to join South Sudan but didn't get the chance.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Ai Weiwei Free, Sort Of
If you've been up on your news concerning efforts to introduce or increase freedoms in China, you know the name Ai Weiwei. Weiwei is an artist, China's most famous (you know him as the guy who designed the Bird's Nest, the main stadium from the 2008 Olympics), who has been critical of the Chinese government, most notably over mishandling of the Sichuan earthquake, also in 2008. Over the past three months, Weiwei has been held on what many believe to be spurious-at-best charges of tax evasion. The rest of the world is certain that Weiwei's detention is just a way to silence a prominent critic, and China has been raked over the coals for it.
Well, today Weiwei has been released from his detention. He's not completely free, though. As he put it after his release, "I’m released, I’m home, I’m fine. In legal terms, I’m — how do you say — on bail. So I cannot give any interviews. But I’m fine."
Basically, China gets to monitor him for a year, place restrictions on his behavior, and hang on to his travel documents. Should they deem him to have violated those restrictions, he could be reimprisoned. But, for now, he's out of the hoosegow.
Well, today Weiwei has been released from his detention. He's not completely free, though. As he put it after his release, "I’m released, I’m home, I’m fine. In legal terms, I’m — how do you say — on bail. So I cannot give any interviews. But I’m fine."
Basically, China gets to monitor him for a year, place restrictions on his behavior, and hang on to his travel documents. Should they deem him to have violated those restrictions, he could be reimprisoned. But, for now, he's out of the hoosegow.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Let's Embarrass Some Gay-Bashers
Much has been made of the bill introduced in the Ugandan legislature to make being gay punishable by death. That's good. That kind of thing needs to be called out and made to be an embarrassment for anyone that attempts it, no matter if it's an international hotspot or not.
As it stands, the parliament that was debating what has been deemed the 'Kill The Gays' bill ran out of time before the end of the session. However, a new parliament has been sworn in, and they intend to reintroduce the bill. The current president, Yoweri Museveni, in power for 25 years, is starting a fourth term in the wake of a disputed election. Even without the bill, Uganda isn't in a good way.
There are, however, so many other fronts on the battle for gay rights as to be bewildering. Pick your favorite.
Here's a sampling of a few of the other fronts:
*The United Belize Advocacy Movement is challenging the constitutionality of a law making gay sex acts punishable under sodomy laws, carrying a 10-year prison sentence.
*Last Monday, Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika gave an inflammatory anti-gay speech. In his words, "You will never see dogs marry each other. These people want us to behave worse than dogs. I cannot allow it." Unlike heterosexual dogs, of course, who, like, totally get married and everything.
*Then there's this chipper little screed out of Muhummad Qasim's keyboard from The News International in Pakistan, where things are going on that are not the continued death of Osama bin Laden. The headline reads "Homosexuality an emerging threat to health and norms in Pakistan". It goes on from there.
*Finally, there's St. Paul, Minnesota, where Bradlee Dean, pastor of ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, was invited to give a prayer on the floor of the Minnesota state legislature. This was a mistake. Dean's "prayer" went so far off the rails that afterwards, the chaplain was brought in to do the prayer over again. Dean has, in the past, said things such as:
And:
To their credit, the Republicans that invited him quickly denounced every word that came out of his mouth. Hopefully, Dean hasn't caused any lasting damage.
As it stands, the parliament that was debating what has been deemed the 'Kill The Gays' bill ran out of time before the end of the session. However, a new parliament has been sworn in, and they intend to reintroduce the bill. The current president, Yoweri Museveni, in power for 25 years, is starting a fourth term in the wake of a disputed election. Even without the bill, Uganda isn't in a good way.
There are, however, so many other fronts on the battle for gay rights as to be bewildering. Pick your favorite.
Here's a sampling of a few of the other fronts:
*The United Belize Advocacy Movement is challenging the constitutionality of a law making gay sex acts punishable under sodomy laws, carrying a 10-year prison sentence.
*Last Monday, Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika gave an inflammatory anti-gay speech. In his words, "You will never see dogs marry each other. These people want us to behave worse than dogs. I cannot allow it." Unlike heterosexual dogs, of course, who, like, totally get married and everything.
*Then there's this chipper little screed out of Muhummad Qasim's keyboard from The News International in Pakistan, where things are going on that are not the continued death of Osama bin Laden. The headline reads "Homosexuality an emerging threat to health and norms in Pakistan". It goes on from there.
*Finally, there's St. Paul, Minnesota, where Bradlee Dean, pastor of ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, was invited to give a prayer on the floor of the Minnesota state legislature. This was a mistake. Dean's "prayer" went so far off the rails that afterwards, the chaplain was brought in to do the prayer over again. Dean has, in the past, said things such as:
"Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination."
And:
"On average, they molest 117 people before they’re found out."
To their credit, the Republicans that invited him quickly denounced every word that came out of his mouth. Hopefully, Dean hasn't caused any lasting damage.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Osama bin Laden Dead
But then, you've in all likelihood already known that for a couple hours now.
Took ten years. Took a whole lot of pain and anguish and doubt we'd ever get him. We have to be mindful of what happens next; you know al Qaeda won't be taking that kind of news sitting down. They'll probably lash out in pure rage, so everyone keep on their toes for a little while.
But we got our man. After ten long years, we got our man. We avenged each and every person that died on 9/11. We got closure.
Well done to the soldiers that carried out the mission. And well done to Obama for planning and overseeing it.
Took ten years. Took a whole lot of pain and anguish and doubt we'd ever get him. We have to be mindful of what happens next; you know al Qaeda won't be taking that kind of news sitting down. They'll probably lash out in pure rage, so everyone keep on their toes for a little while.
But we got our man. After ten long years, we got our man. We avenged each and every person that died on 9/11. We got closure.
Well done to the soldiers that carried out the mission. And well done to Obama for planning and overseeing it.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Wiki Walk
You know what we haven't done in a long time? Pore through some Wikileaks diplomatic cables. Since everyone's kind of gotten bored with going through them every day and going 'hey, look at this' to every single thing, we're going to have to go to Wikileaks itself for the cables, which means the links that follow are not safe for military types.
The news organizations that don't have the entire stack of cables notwithstanding, so far 11,218 of the 251,287 cables have been released. That's 4.46% of the total.
That said, let's go browsing. Again, we're linking directly to the cables, so click with care.
First, let's just note the oldest cable in the group (for now), coming out of 1966. It comes out of Argentina, dealing with national jurisdictions in coastal waters. Argentine legislation under consideration at the time would claim territory six miles offshore, and 200 miles as "preferential". The Argentine navy claimed that it would soon be standard throughout the Western Hemisphere. (The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea set a maximum of 12 miles where a country can exert total control, a further 12 miles for more limited control, and an exclusive economic zone of 200 miles, which gives a country the rights to resources but doesn't let them restrict access. So Argentina wasn't too far off.)
The second-oldest is from February 1972, dealing with the sale of F-4E fighter jets to Iran. Ah, Cold War. How morally ambiguous you made us.
A psychological profile of Iranians in general made in 1979, written by one Victor Tomseth, isn't overly flattering. As you'd think back then. It was leaked way back in November, but it's the first you've likely heard of it. The first sentence of the profile is "PERHAPS THE SINGLE DOMINANT ASPECT OF THE PERSIAN PSYCHE IS AN OVERRIDING EGOISM." It goes on like this.
One of today's leaks comes out of Colombia, where in December 2007, president Alvaro Uribe agreed to an "encounter zone" in which to retrieve hostages taken by the paramilitary group FARC that at the time included Ingrid Betancourt. More surprising is the $100 million (US) set aside in a fund as an incentive for FARC members to release hostages and leave the group. In another cable released today, Uribe, during the visit of an American delegation led by Harry Reid, Uribe compared the threat Hugo Chavez posed to Latin America to the threat Hitler posed to Europe.
In a cable from April 2004, Panama's Supreme Court voted 8-1 that it lacked jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli arms smuggler Shimon Yalin Yelinek in the transfer of arms from Nicaragua to Colombia, despite the fact that he was living in Panama, that he was alleged with falsifying Panamanian National Police documents, and that they had used a boat registered to Panama. The cable notes charges that all eight majority judges received bribes to vote the way they did. At the time of the cable, Yelinek was also under investigation by America's DEA on money-laundering accusations. (Yelinek is at large to this day, supplying support to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico's drug war.)
In a cable from June 2006, Ban Ki-Moon, in his days prior to becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations, offered congratulations for the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That's about all there is to that cable, but that's all one really needs to wonder if that's something becoming of a guy who'd go on to be put in charge of an organization dedicated to world peace.
A cable from January 2003 shows that supposed illegal immigrants from Pakistan within the United States, persecuted by anti-Arab attitudes in a post-9/11 America, and fearful of deportation back to Pakistan if they made themselves known in any way to the INS, re-defected to Canada to seek political asylum. The cable makes no mention of how those requests turned out.
And let's finish out with a February 2008 cable from the consulate in Kolkata, India, mentioning that in 2007, it rejected about 60% of applications for religious worker visas. Why? The applicants weren't actually religious workers. In some cases, the problem was as simple as being a maintenance guy who wasn't partaking in any actual religious duties at their place of worship, or not living within the consulate's jurisdiction. In other cases, though, people went so far as to make up a place of worship so they could claim it to the consulate. Not only didn't it work, but they'll likely have some interesting questions to answer once they meet whoever's in charge of them metaphysically.
The news organizations that don't have the entire stack of cables notwithstanding, so far 11,218 of the 251,287 cables have been released. That's 4.46% of the total.
That said, let's go browsing. Again, we're linking directly to the cables, so click with care.
First, let's just note the oldest cable in the group (for now), coming out of 1966. It comes out of Argentina, dealing with national jurisdictions in coastal waters. Argentine legislation under consideration at the time would claim territory six miles offshore, and 200 miles as "preferential". The Argentine navy claimed that it would soon be standard throughout the Western Hemisphere. (The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea set a maximum of 12 miles where a country can exert total control, a further 12 miles for more limited control, and an exclusive economic zone of 200 miles, which gives a country the rights to resources but doesn't let them restrict access. So Argentina wasn't too far off.)
The second-oldest is from February 1972, dealing with the sale of F-4E fighter jets to Iran. Ah, Cold War. How morally ambiguous you made us.
A psychological profile of Iranians in general made in 1979, written by one Victor Tomseth, isn't overly flattering. As you'd think back then. It was leaked way back in November, but it's the first you've likely heard of it. The first sentence of the profile is "PERHAPS THE SINGLE DOMINANT ASPECT OF THE PERSIAN PSYCHE IS AN OVERRIDING EGOISM." It goes on like this.
One of today's leaks comes out of Colombia, where in December 2007, president Alvaro Uribe agreed to an "encounter zone" in which to retrieve hostages taken by the paramilitary group FARC that at the time included Ingrid Betancourt. More surprising is the $100 million (US) set aside in a fund as an incentive for FARC members to release hostages and leave the group. In another cable released today, Uribe, during the visit of an American delegation led by Harry Reid, Uribe compared the threat Hugo Chavez posed to Latin America to the threat Hitler posed to Europe.
In a cable from April 2004, Panama's Supreme Court voted 8-1 that it lacked jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli arms smuggler Shimon Yalin Yelinek in the transfer of arms from Nicaragua to Colombia, despite the fact that he was living in Panama, that he was alleged with falsifying Panamanian National Police documents, and that they had used a boat registered to Panama. The cable notes charges that all eight majority judges received bribes to vote the way they did. At the time of the cable, Yelinek was also under investigation by America's DEA on money-laundering accusations. (Yelinek is at large to this day, supplying support to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico's drug war.)
In a cable from June 2006, Ban Ki-Moon, in his days prior to becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations, offered congratulations for the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That's about all there is to that cable, but that's all one really needs to wonder if that's something becoming of a guy who'd go on to be put in charge of an organization dedicated to world peace.
A cable from January 2003 shows that supposed illegal immigrants from Pakistan within the United States, persecuted by anti-Arab attitudes in a post-9/11 America, and fearful of deportation back to Pakistan if they made themselves known in any way to the INS, re-defected to Canada to seek political asylum. The cable makes no mention of how those requests turned out.
And let's finish out with a February 2008 cable from the consulate in Kolkata, India, mentioning that in 2007, it rejected about 60% of applications for religious worker visas. Why? The applicants weren't actually religious workers. In some cases, the problem was as simple as being a maintenance guy who wasn't partaking in any actual religious duties at their place of worship, or not living within the consulate's jurisdiction. In other cases, though, people went so far as to make up a place of worship so they could claim it to the consulate. Not only didn't it work, but they'll likely have some interesting questions to answer once they meet whoever's in charge of them metaphysically.
Friday, April 15, 2011
The Back Page, Before They Cut It All To Fill The Back Page With The Royal Wedding
With it hailing out, and me working on something larger- might be tomorrow, might not, but still- today we'll do something of a back-page roundup. I'm going to fire four stories at you that I'm banking you haven't seen today, and we'll see if anything socks you in the eyeballs.
*Bolivia is on track to to pass a law, the Law of Mother Earth, giving nature the same rights as man. The Guardian shows them as "the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered," as well as the right of nature "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities." They're also trying to get something similar through the United Nations, though that shows far poorer chances of success.
*The FDA has given approval to a hat, the NovoTTF-100A, that fights brain cancer by generating electric fields using the electrodes on your scalp to attack tumor cells. It comes with a gazillion caveats- the type of brain cancer, how much the cancer has progressed, what else has been tried- but it got a narrow approval after a clinical study showed it was as effective in the test group as chemotherapy, with less of some side effects (and more of others). That paves the way for further testing in other circumstances.
*Women in Tajikistan are increasingly taking note of a quirk in Tajik society that leaves them at major risk, according to Eurasianet. Divorce rates are on the rise, but the common way for Muslim spouses to get married is a religious ceremony called a nikkah. Couples that opt for a nikkah frequently do not obtain paperwork officially recognizing the marriage. No official marriage means no prenuptial agreement, and with women's rights lacking in that part of the world, the husband-that's-not-officially-a-husband can easily wind up with just about everything; according to the article, about 80% of female spouses wind up without property or child support, usually because they didn't register. Women can be hit from the other end as well, as even the ones that register and obtain a divorce (Tajik law enforces a 50-50 split) can end up shunned by their community because of the divorce.
*And finally, let's head over to Alicante, Spain, where authorities have recovered two priceless paintings stolen in the late 1990's: "La Anunciación" by El Greco and "La Aparición de la Virgen del Pilar" by Francisco de Goya. The paintings are reportedly undamaged; the thieves looked after them well. That's about all they could do; as they were both placed on the Art Loss Register and made known to the art community and to police, they couldn't easily be resold. When they reportedly started trying to do so in October, the cops got wind of it and began an investigation that led to the paintings' eventual recovery.
*Bolivia is on track to to pass a law, the Law of Mother Earth, giving nature the same rights as man. The Guardian shows them as "the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered," as well as the right of nature "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities." They're also trying to get something similar through the United Nations, though that shows far poorer chances of success.
*The FDA has given approval to a hat, the NovoTTF-100A, that fights brain cancer by generating electric fields using the electrodes on your scalp to attack tumor cells. It comes with a gazillion caveats- the type of brain cancer, how much the cancer has progressed, what else has been tried- but it got a narrow approval after a clinical study showed it was as effective in the test group as chemotherapy, with less of some side effects (and more of others). That paves the way for further testing in other circumstances.
*Women in Tajikistan are increasingly taking note of a quirk in Tajik society that leaves them at major risk, according to Eurasianet. Divorce rates are on the rise, but the common way for Muslim spouses to get married is a religious ceremony called a nikkah. Couples that opt for a nikkah frequently do not obtain paperwork officially recognizing the marriage. No official marriage means no prenuptial agreement, and with women's rights lacking in that part of the world, the husband-that's-not-officially-a-husband can easily wind up with just about everything; according to the article, about 80% of female spouses wind up without property or child support, usually because they didn't register. Women can be hit from the other end as well, as even the ones that register and obtain a divorce (Tajik law enforces a 50-50 split) can end up shunned by their community because of the divorce.
*And finally, let's head over to Alicante, Spain, where authorities have recovered two priceless paintings stolen in the late 1990's: "La Anunciación" by El Greco and "La Aparición de la Virgen del Pilar" by Francisco de Goya. The paintings are reportedly undamaged; the thieves looked after them well. That's about all they could do; as they were both placed on the Art Loss Register and made known to the art community and to police, they couldn't easily be resold. When they reportedly started trying to do so in October, the cops got wind of it and began an investigation that led to the paintings' eventual recovery.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Remember What I Said About Japan Still Not Having It Quite As Bad As Port Royal?
Yeah... never mind.
Seriously. Never. Freaking. Mind. Still technically true, per capita, but never mind.
Whoever's up there-- God, Shinto gods, Godzilla-- you can stop now. You proved your point, whatever it is.
(In related news, if we could cut out the talk about the effect on Japan's stock market until we're a bit further into cleanup, that'd be great. The Nikkei is probably the least of concerns for a whole hell of a lot of Japan right now. Businesses that can supply food and water? That's much more useful.)
If you have any spare money laying around, the American Red Cross could use it. This donation link will cover readers in the United States and Canada; other nations, there's surely a charity near you.
Seriously. Never. Freaking. Mind. Still technically true, per capita, but never mind.
Whoever's up there-- God, Shinto gods, Godzilla-- you can stop now. You proved your point, whatever it is.
(In related news, if we could cut out the talk about the effect on Japan's stock market until we're a bit further into cleanup, that'd be great. The Nikkei is probably the least of concerns for a whole hell of a lot of Japan right now. Businesses that can supply food and water? That's much more useful.)
If you have any spare money laying around, the American Red Cross could use it. This donation link will cover readers in the United States and Canada; other nations, there's surely a charity near you.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Earthquake Off Japan
CNN is reporting an 8.9 earthquake has struck not long ago approximately 150 kilometers off the coast of Honshu island, Japan. (By comparison, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that struck off Banda Aceh, Indonesia was a 9.0.) Various types of tsunami watches, warnings and advisories are out for basically the entire western half of the Pacific Ocean, and considering that tsunamis can cross entire oceans, not just half of them, the eastern half of the Pacific Rim should be expecting problems as well in the coming hours.
If you're reading right now from the western Pacific coastline, get to higher ground. If you're reading from the eastern Pacific coastline, be ready to wake up real early just in case.
If you're reading right now from the western Pacific coastline, get to higher ground. If you're reading from the eastern Pacific coastline, be ready to wake up real early just in case.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
No 'Koch' Puns; I Have Dignity Today
Okay, I guess I'm getting screechy after all. Ian Murphy, the editor of the Buffalo Beast, an alternative newspaper that later went exclusively online, decided to pose over the phone as David Koch, one of the conservative financier Koch brothers. His goal was to get through to Scott Walker.
Normally when someone tries this kind of thing, they either get busted immediately, or best case, they get through but are busted partway through the call.
Murphy, meanwhile, not only got through, but held an entire conversation with Walker, whose office later confirmed the call as authentic. (As the Beast's website is throwing out 404's right now, I link to the Huffington Post instead.)
This is the audio of that call, evidently held at 2 PM yesterday, which means I was in Madison while this call was taking place.
EDIT: You know... it might help if I posted the second half of that audio too.
Normally when someone tries this kind of thing, they either get busted immediately, or best case, they get through but are busted partway through the call.
Murphy, meanwhile, not only got through, but held an entire conversation with Walker, whose office later confirmed the call as authentic. (As the Beast's website is throwing out 404's right now, I link to the Huffington Post instead.)
This is the audio of that call, evidently held at 2 PM yesterday, which means I was in Madison while this call was taking place.
EDIT: You know... it might help if I posted the second half of that audio too.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Madison Protests
Today, as advertised, I was in Madison, joining the protest against the budget proposed by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to remove collective bargaining rights for public employees. (Full disclosure: My sister-in-law is a special-ed teacher, one of the key groups participating, and the ones targeted by the next items on the agenda: stripping funds from the Milwaukee Public School system, and to break UW-Madison off from the rest of the UW school system.)
On this, Day 5 since the departure of Wisconsin's Democratic state senators, the teachers themselves weren't actually there- they had returned to class for the proverbial sake of the children, resulting in a smaller crowd than there had been previously- but some substitute protesters were out in their place, some with signs stating who they were there on behalf of.
Since I've clearly taken a side, I'll let that speak to that aspect of the protests and downplay it the rest of the way. Does me no good to get screechy about it. If this Gallup poll is correct, there's a 61% chance we share viewpoints anyway. (My current employer and I do not. I do not begrudge them their views, I will not force my views on them, and as long as they don't force theirs on me, we're cool all around.)
So let's instead talk about the atmosphere in Madison. I arrived around 10:30-ish and saw what would be the first of many, many parades down Capitol Square, and the three chants that would dominate the day:
"Kill the bill!"
"Tell me what democracy looks like?" "This is what democracy looks like!"
"Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Walker has got to go!"
After making a loop around the square, I entered the capitol building itself.
It was as if the Seattle Mariners were back in the Kingdome and in the playoffs. The Capitol Rotunda has acoustics that greatly benefit a protest, and full advantage has been taken of this, with the vast majority of indoor demonstrators hovering around the Rotunda. Signs, letters, banners, flags, pamphlets, leaflets, people gathering signatures, and anything else that can be printed up... they were inescapable. A live feed of Wisconsin Eye, the Wisconsin equivalent to C-SPAN, was displayed on the top floor. Anyone that wished to address the crowd did so from the middle of the ground floor, where they might not be seen by everyone, but their voice would most easily bounce off the hollow dome above and through to the rest of the building.
For the record, I only noticed two comparisons to Egypt all day: a sign recalling a Paul Ryan quote that said Cairo had come to Madison, and this picture of an Egyptian at Tahrir Square standing with the Wisconsinites. That's about right. There are certainly parallels to be drawn if one wants: governmental leader trying to ram through something widely hated, large-scale multi-day protests that have been met with total obstination by leadership, solidarity from abroad, that old threat to pull out the National Guard (who subsequently told Walker to get bent). The drive to protest may even have been partly inspired by the recent successes in Tunisia and Egypt. But at the same time, nobody's getting shot, nobody's getting into any fights, Walker's term can only be measured in weeks, not decades, the media's not in any way being suppressed, protesters have had almost free run of the capitol building. It's like Egypt, but it's not like Egypt. So we're all clear on that.
There was a 'quiet study area' on the top floor, next to the Senate Gallery. This only meant 'less ear-splitting'. With fewer people than previous, it was viewed as quieter. To which I say: that is one loud quiet. (The major business for the Senate today: congratulating the Green Bay Packers on winning the Super Bowl.)
I may have chanted. I may not have. I can't tell. I couldn't hear myself talk. I may have said 'hey hey ho ho', I may have said 'salt my finger snakes'. I was mostly taking notes anyway, a tough thing because my pens kept dying.
The mood, however, was quite jovial. Intense, yet good-natured, as if all that had happened was the Wisconsin Badgers making the Final Four. It's a very Wisconsin mood. We are largely the nice, pleasant folks we and the rest of the north-central United States are stereotyped as. But underneath that niceness, below the surface outsiders normally see, there's a low-simmering sense of drama. It manifests every so often in daily life here, but not enough for you to notice. We have a fuse. It is a long fuse, but we are no Pollyannas.
For the love of God, do not let that fuse run out.
Once that fuse runs out, Wisconsin goes relatively crazy. We're considered a laboratory of progressivism, but it wouldn't be a lab without failed experiments. We are the state of William Proxmire, Russ Feingold, and 'Fightin Bob' LaFollette. But we are also the state of Aldrich Ames, Jeffrey Dahmer and Joe McCarthy. We are the state that created the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln's day (now unrecognizable to this era), but we are also the state where Teddy Roosevelt was shot. We are the home of Bob Uecker, but we are the home of Latrell Sprewell.
Reminders were everywhere to inform protesters that this is supposed to be a peaceful thing. Just in case.
For lunch, I visited Ian's Pizza. This unassuming pizza place, about a block and a half from Capitol Square on State Street- a pedestrian-only street connecting the capitol to UW-Madison- is the go-to place for hungry protesters. Around the world, people have been phoning in orders to Ian's on behalf of them, with the effect that the protesters- and anyone else that stops by- have been eating free for a while now; one employee stated that $25,000 in donated orders were recorded yesterday alone. All 50 states and DC have called in with orders. Someone from China has called in an order, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Morocco, Antarctica. While I was there, an order came in from Jerusalem, Israel. The way it worked was, you're asked how many slices you want and if you want a drink or something, and they simply tally up the total number of pizza slices and drinks. There was no active register. Every time a foreign order came in, the nationality was announced to the dining room.
How can a little place in Madison feed tens of thousands of people? Not without employees imported from Ian's Chicago branch. (For further details, head to Ian's website and click on the State Street branch.)
The pizza, by the way, is excellent.
Back at the Rotunda, preliminary signatures were being gathered to help determine where to allocate resources for a recall effort. Not of Scott Walker; that can't happen until he's been in office for one year. Of eight Republican state senators. Three would be needed to flip in order to kill the budget bill, but should that not happen, Plan B is to recall enough Republican legislators to wipe out the advantage, and in turn, wipe out the bill. The preliminary signatures are needed because once paperwork is officially filed, a 60-day clock starts, and all recall petition signatures must be gathered by then.
Meanwhile, a group in Utah, the American Patriot Recall Coalition (great name; managed to shoehorn both 'American' AND 'Patriot' in there, just to show you're twice as American), has started the clock on a similar measure against eight Democratic state senators. Yes, apparently you can do that. A group in Utah can apparently try to have legislators in Wisconsin thrown out of office. So now everybody is recalling everybody else. And nobody is giving an inch.
As it stands, people are protesting in shifts; shuttle buses are active all over the state to get people into and out of Capitol Square, if protesters didn't show up in their own vehicles. If Wisconsinites need a break, out-of-staters have been perfectly willing to pick up the slack with bused-in protesters of their own. And with nobody conceding on collective bargaining, and everybody digging in their heels, the result is a virtual siege operation.
We could be here for a long time.
On this, Day 5 since the departure of Wisconsin's Democratic state senators, the teachers themselves weren't actually there- they had returned to class for the proverbial sake of the children, resulting in a smaller crowd than there had been previously- but some substitute protesters were out in their place, some with signs stating who they were there on behalf of.
Since I've clearly taken a side, I'll let that speak to that aspect of the protests and downplay it the rest of the way. Does me no good to get screechy about it. If this Gallup poll is correct, there's a 61% chance we share viewpoints anyway. (My current employer and I do not. I do not begrudge them their views, I will not force my views on them, and as long as they don't force theirs on me, we're cool all around.)
So let's instead talk about the atmosphere in Madison. I arrived around 10:30-ish and saw what would be the first of many, many parades down Capitol Square, and the three chants that would dominate the day:
"Kill the bill!"
"Tell me what democracy looks like?" "This is what democracy looks like!"
"Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Walker has got to go!"
After making a loop around the square, I entered the capitol building itself.
It was as if the Seattle Mariners were back in the Kingdome and in the playoffs. The Capitol Rotunda has acoustics that greatly benefit a protest, and full advantage has been taken of this, with the vast majority of indoor demonstrators hovering around the Rotunda. Signs, letters, banners, flags, pamphlets, leaflets, people gathering signatures, and anything else that can be printed up... they were inescapable. A live feed of Wisconsin Eye, the Wisconsin equivalent to C-SPAN, was displayed on the top floor. Anyone that wished to address the crowd did so from the middle of the ground floor, where they might not be seen by everyone, but their voice would most easily bounce off the hollow dome above and through to the rest of the building.
For the record, I only noticed two comparisons to Egypt all day: a sign recalling a Paul Ryan quote that said Cairo had come to Madison, and this picture of an Egyptian at Tahrir Square standing with the Wisconsinites. That's about right. There are certainly parallels to be drawn if one wants: governmental leader trying to ram through something widely hated, large-scale multi-day protests that have been met with total obstination by leadership, solidarity from abroad, that old threat to pull out the National Guard (who subsequently told Walker to get bent). The drive to protest may even have been partly inspired by the recent successes in Tunisia and Egypt. But at the same time, nobody's getting shot, nobody's getting into any fights, Walker's term can only be measured in weeks, not decades, the media's not in any way being suppressed, protesters have had almost free run of the capitol building. It's like Egypt, but it's not like Egypt. So we're all clear on that.
There was a 'quiet study area' on the top floor, next to the Senate Gallery. This only meant 'less ear-splitting'. With fewer people than previous, it was viewed as quieter. To which I say: that is one loud quiet. (The major business for the Senate today: congratulating the Green Bay Packers on winning the Super Bowl.)
I may have chanted. I may not have. I can't tell. I couldn't hear myself talk. I may have said 'hey hey ho ho', I may have said 'salt my finger snakes'. I was mostly taking notes anyway, a tough thing because my pens kept dying.
The mood, however, was quite jovial. Intense, yet good-natured, as if all that had happened was the Wisconsin Badgers making the Final Four. It's a very Wisconsin mood. We are largely the nice, pleasant folks we and the rest of the north-central United States are stereotyped as. But underneath that niceness, below the surface outsiders normally see, there's a low-simmering sense of drama. It manifests every so often in daily life here, but not enough for you to notice. We have a fuse. It is a long fuse, but we are no Pollyannas.
For the love of God, do not let that fuse run out.
Once that fuse runs out, Wisconsin goes relatively crazy. We're considered a laboratory of progressivism, but it wouldn't be a lab without failed experiments. We are the state of William Proxmire, Russ Feingold, and 'Fightin Bob' LaFollette. But we are also the state of Aldrich Ames, Jeffrey Dahmer and Joe McCarthy. We are the state that created the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln's day (now unrecognizable to this era), but we are also the state where Teddy Roosevelt was shot. We are the home of Bob Uecker, but we are the home of Latrell Sprewell.
Reminders were everywhere to inform protesters that this is supposed to be a peaceful thing. Just in case.
For lunch, I visited Ian's Pizza. This unassuming pizza place, about a block and a half from Capitol Square on State Street- a pedestrian-only street connecting the capitol to UW-Madison- is the go-to place for hungry protesters. Around the world, people have been phoning in orders to Ian's on behalf of them, with the effect that the protesters- and anyone else that stops by- have been eating free for a while now; one employee stated that $25,000 in donated orders were recorded yesterday alone. All 50 states and DC have called in with orders. Someone from China has called in an order, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Morocco, Antarctica. While I was there, an order came in from Jerusalem, Israel. The way it worked was, you're asked how many slices you want and if you want a drink or something, and they simply tally up the total number of pizza slices and drinks. There was no active register. Every time a foreign order came in, the nationality was announced to the dining room.
How can a little place in Madison feed tens of thousands of people? Not without employees imported from Ian's Chicago branch. (For further details, head to Ian's website and click on the State Street branch.)
The pizza, by the way, is excellent.
Back at the Rotunda, preliminary signatures were being gathered to help determine where to allocate resources for a recall effort. Not of Scott Walker; that can't happen until he's been in office for one year. Of eight Republican state senators. Three would be needed to flip in order to kill the budget bill, but should that not happen, Plan B is to recall enough Republican legislators to wipe out the advantage, and in turn, wipe out the bill. The preliminary signatures are needed because once paperwork is officially filed, a 60-day clock starts, and all recall petition signatures must be gathered by then.
Meanwhile, a group in Utah, the American Patriot Recall Coalition (great name; managed to shoehorn both 'American' AND 'Patriot' in there, just to show you're twice as American), has started the clock on a similar measure against eight Democratic state senators. Yes, apparently you can do that. A group in Utah can apparently try to have legislators in Wisconsin thrown out of office. So now everybody is recalling everybody else. And nobody is giving an inch.
As it stands, people are protesting in shifts; shuttle buses are active all over the state to get people into and out of Capitol Square, if protesters didn't show up in their own vehicles. If Wisconsinites need a break, out-of-staters have been perfectly willing to pick up the slack with bused-in protesters of their own. And with nobody conceding on collective bargaining, and everybody digging in their heels, the result is a virtual siege operation.
We could be here for a long time.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Feelin' So Fly Like A Cheesehead
Currently following the situation in Madison. In order to prevent a quorum on a vote that would drastically restrict, almost eliminate, collective bargaining rights for unions of public-sector employees in Wisconsin (excluding police and fire), all opposition Democratic state senators have flown the coop, getting out of the state and out of the jurisdiction of the State Patrol charged with bringing them in. Naturally, they are offering no clues as to where they might be.
Here's one possible location.
Here's one possible location.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Mubarak Is Gone
Hosni Mubarak has stepped down as president of Egypt a little over a half hour ago, handing power to the military. He is currently thought to be in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the south; no word on whether he'll be staying there or hopping the border.
Any questions about what happens next seem unimportant to the crowd in Cairo. They'll figure all those questions out later. Right now, they're just rejoicing in the fact that Mubarak is out.
Any questions about what happens next seem unimportant to the crowd in Cairo. They'll figure all those questions out later. Right now, they're just rejoicing in the fact that Mubarak is out.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
So... The Two Hikers Go On Trial Today.
It's Super Bowl Sunday. Yes. And if the Packers win, I'm sure I'll be in here after the game whooping and hollering because I am a Wisconsinite and it is a law of physics.
Meanwhile in Iran, though, you have far higher stakes, as the hikers still there, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, go on trial for "spying" today when they allegedly crossed the border into Iran while hiking in Kurdistan. 'Allegedly' is important here, as one of the Wikileaks cables shows US military officials as not believing they had ever actually set foot on Iranian soil (as well as some speculation as to their intent).
Sarah Shourd, the third hiker, is also being tried, albeit in absentia, as she was released earlier on medical grounds. No sane person expects her to actually show up.
So keep them in your thoughts today; hope for the best. You don't have to agree with what they were doing there in the first place. Nobody's asking you to. Just lend some support for their release is all.
Meanwhile in Iran, though, you have far higher stakes, as the hikers still there, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, go on trial for "spying" today when they allegedly crossed the border into Iran while hiking in Kurdistan. 'Allegedly' is important here, as one of the Wikileaks cables shows US military officials as not believing they had ever actually set foot on Iranian soil (as well as some speculation as to their intent).
Sarah Shourd, the third hiker, is also being tried, albeit in absentia, as she was released earlier on medical grounds. No sane person expects her to actually show up.
So keep them in your thoughts today; hope for the best. You don't have to agree with what they were doing there in the first place. Nobody's asking you to. Just lend some support for their release is all.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Chaos in Tahrir Square
The basic rundown of what's going on right now:
*Anti-Mubarak forces are more or less surrounded in Tahrir Square in Cairo by pro-Mubarak forces that amount to thugs. No uniformed officers; the military is standing there watching.
*Molotov cocktails have been thrown by the pro-Mubarak crowd; the military's been spending their time spraying water at the resulting fires.
*Some hours ago, pro-Mubarak people on horseback and camelback rode through what had been a tense-but-calm talk between the two sides, flogging anti-Mubarak people as they went. Since then, what's been going on has been described by CNN as a "street brawl."
*When either side captures someone from the other side, the captured party is bound to be beaten severely. Anderson Cooper found this out firsthand earlier when he was attacked by pro-Mubarak forces.
*The anti-Mubarak forces view the situation as a fight for their lives; they pledge to die defending Tahrir Square. They've been pulling up bricks from the ground and grabbing just about anything they can get their hands on to use as a weapon or a shield.
The situation is obviously still very fluid; it's a bit of a standoff right now. Here's the Guardian's update board.
*Anti-Mubarak forces are more or less surrounded in Tahrir Square in Cairo by pro-Mubarak forces that amount to thugs. No uniformed officers; the military is standing there watching.
*Molotov cocktails have been thrown by the pro-Mubarak crowd; the military's been spending their time spraying water at the resulting fires.
*Some hours ago, pro-Mubarak people on horseback and camelback rode through what had been a tense-but-calm talk between the two sides, flogging anti-Mubarak people as they went. Since then, what's been going on has been described by CNN as a "street brawl."
*When either side captures someone from the other side, the captured party is bound to be beaten severely. Anderson Cooper found this out firsthand earlier when he was attacked by pro-Mubarak forces.
*The anti-Mubarak forces view the situation as a fight for their lives; they pledge to die defending Tahrir Square. They've been pulling up bricks from the ground and grabbing just about anything they can get their hands on to use as a weapon or a shield.
The situation is obviously still very fluid; it's a bit of a standoff right now. Here's the Guardian's update board.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Possible Egyptian Revolution
There are mass protests in Egypt right now, far too many for police to handle. Heir apparent Gamar Mubarek is thought to have fled to London, though that is not confirmed. Things are moving way too fast for us to keep up here; head to the Guardian for the latest.
With Tunisia and Lebanon in protest mode as well, the western Middle East and North Africa are going even further off the rails than usual.
With Tunisia and Lebanon in protest mode as well, the western Middle East and North Africa are going even further off the rails than usual.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Cable News
It's been way too long since we checked in with the diplomatic cables coming from Wikileaks. Perhaps you don't like Julian Assange. Fair enough. He's quite the hateable person. It doesn't change the content of the leaks themselves, as Berry Smutny just found out when a leak came out referring to the Galileo project, a European competitor to GPS, as "a stupid idea that primarily serves French interests." Smutny is chief of OHB Technology, which won a contract to make 14 Galileo satellites. He's been suspended; most say fired.
Or ask Tunisia. 10 days prior to the utter collapse of the Tunisian government, a supposedly innocuous gossip cable came out describing the ruling family as corrupt, widely hated and out of touch. Innocuous to us. Enough in Tunisia to serve as a flashpoint of protest, and in turn enough to cause the chaos we've since seen.
US officials are privately saying the damage from Wikileaks is limited, at least as far as they're concerned. Those in northern Africa might beg to differ.
Or, while we're at it, Panama. Or South Africa.
So far, 2,444 cables of the 250,000-and-change have come from Wikileaks itself, though two places, Aftenposten and Die Welt, have copies of the entire stack and are making their own leaks at their respective paces.
That said, here's a quick roundup of other recent leaks...
*The Dominican Republic was afraid of the return of Baby Doc Duvalier as of 2006, and didn't want him returning through them. (He of course has returned, was quickly arrested, and is now waiting to see if he will face trial, which is a likely prospect.)
*A German thinktank, the Institute for Security and International Affairs, advised the US to sabotage Iranian nuclear sites, saying covert operations would be "more effective than a military strike".
*Turkey was used by the US for extraordinary rendition. I know. Big shocker. Look at the shock.
*Costa Rica: not as easy-going and neutral as you might think. They're not big fans of Venezuela.
*Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom referred to Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu as a "fabrication" of Elizabeth Burgos, who wrote Menchu's biography.
*Iran made arms deals with North Korea, and the money went through a bank in Seoul.
*Nepal was worried, as of 2005, that failure by the US to support King Gyandendra Shah could lead to the country being overtaken by a Maoist faction.
*Right before Iceland's economy went belly-up, Timothy Geithner got a letter that started "Dear Tim, could the federal reserve lend Iceland $1 billion?" (They couldn't.)
*Colombia is not keen on free trade with China, as of 2009 at least, on fears that China will pretty much run them over.
Or ask Tunisia. 10 days prior to the utter collapse of the Tunisian government, a supposedly innocuous gossip cable came out describing the ruling family as corrupt, widely hated and out of touch. Innocuous to us. Enough in Tunisia to serve as a flashpoint of protest, and in turn enough to cause the chaos we've since seen.
US officials are privately saying the damage from Wikileaks is limited, at least as far as they're concerned. Those in northern Africa might beg to differ.
Or, while we're at it, Panama. Or South Africa.
So far, 2,444 cables of the 250,000-and-change have come from Wikileaks itself, though two places, Aftenposten and Die Welt, have copies of the entire stack and are making their own leaks at their respective paces.
That said, here's a quick roundup of other recent leaks...
*The Dominican Republic was afraid of the return of Baby Doc Duvalier as of 2006, and didn't want him returning through them. (He of course has returned, was quickly arrested, and is now waiting to see if he will face trial, which is a likely prospect.)
*A German thinktank, the Institute for Security and International Affairs, advised the US to sabotage Iranian nuclear sites, saying covert operations would be "more effective than a military strike".
*Turkey was used by the US for extraordinary rendition. I know. Big shocker. Look at the shock.
*Costa Rica: not as easy-going and neutral as you might think. They're not big fans of Venezuela.
*Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom referred to Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu as a "fabrication" of Elizabeth Burgos, who wrote Menchu's biography.
*Iran made arms deals with North Korea, and the money went through a bank in Seoul.
*Nepal was worried, as of 2005, that failure by the US to support King Gyandendra Shah could lead to the country being overtaken by a Maoist faction.
*Right before Iceland's economy went belly-up, Timothy Geithner got a letter that started "Dear Tim, could the federal reserve lend Iceland $1 billion?" (They couldn't.)
*Colombia is not keen on free trade with China, as of 2009 at least, on fears that China will pretty much run them over.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hail The Glorious Estranged Motherland
Easing back into normal business, let's do a Wikileaks run. Don't imagine much attention's been paid to the more recent cable dumps since Tuscon.
*China has been complaining about "well-fed foreigners" pointing fingers at them.
*The US is concerned about the influence of the Mafia in southern Italy. Oh, yes. They still have some amount of pull in the US. They didn't go away with John Gotti.
*The Whale Wars people are a bunch of counterproductive idiots.
*If you think China is a problem for Tibet, you ought to hear them talk about climate change sometime. (The previous link handles this one too.)
*There is radioactive soil in Kazakhstan that needs securing.
*And here's a cable about negotiations over a region called Transdniester.
Transdniester, you ask? Is that a hockey player or something? Yeah, me too. Transdniester is a little strip along the eastern edge of Moldova, which itself is wedged between Ukraine and Romania. They consider themselves independent (the "capital" being Tiraspol) and in fact more Soviet than anything else- remember, Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union- greatly preferring the Russians to the Romanians, and holding firm on any negotiations due to the presence of Russian troops after the Soviet breakup. The rest of the world has refused to play along. They control a good chunk of Moldova's infrastructure, but then, Moldova controls a good chunk of Transdniester's too.
Transdneister has, however, adopted some elements of capitalism, resulting in what MSNBC described in 2009 as a "surreal" picture of someone eating a burger while talking on a cell phone in front of of pictures of Che Guevara, Vladimir Lenin, and the most productive workers in town.
The region deals largely in two things: organized crime, and poor people. The crime centers around trafficking of, well, whatever, really, but primarily, drugs, weapons, and people.
*China has been complaining about "well-fed foreigners" pointing fingers at them.
*The US is concerned about the influence of the Mafia in southern Italy. Oh, yes. They still have some amount of pull in the US. They didn't go away with John Gotti.
*The Whale Wars people are a bunch of counterproductive idiots.
*If you think China is a problem for Tibet, you ought to hear them talk about climate change sometime. (The previous link handles this one too.)
*There is radioactive soil in Kazakhstan that needs securing.
*And here's a cable about negotiations over a region called Transdniester.
Transdniester, you ask? Is that a hockey player or something? Yeah, me too. Transdniester is a little strip along the eastern edge of Moldova, which itself is wedged between Ukraine and Romania. They consider themselves independent (the "capital" being Tiraspol) and in fact more Soviet than anything else- remember, Moldova was a part of the Soviet Union- greatly preferring the Russians to the Romanians, and holding firm on any negotiations due to the presence of Russian troops after the Soviet breakup. The rest of the world has refused to play along. They control a good chunk of Moldova's infrastructure, but then, Moldova controls a good chunk of Transdniester's too.
Transdneister has, however, adopted some elements of capitalism, resulting in what MSNBC described in 2009 as a "surreal" picture of someone eating a burger while talking on a cell phone in front of of pictures of Che Guevara, Vladimir Lenin, and the most productive workers in town.
The region deals largely in two things: organized crime, and poor people. The crime centers around trafficking of, well, whatever, really, but primarily, drugs, weapons, and people.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Pray
I'm still too consumed by a mixture of shock and despair and outrage to get anything of substance out today. It's as if the events of yesterday in Tuscon had been handwritten by some celestial scriptwriter to generate as much grief as humanly possible: a member of Congress who had just survived (survived... such a loaded word) a highly contentious election against half-crazed opposition shot in the head at point-blank range; the member of Congress married to an astronaut; one of her aides dead, a federal judge dead, a 9-year-old girl born on 9/11 and active in student government dead; the shooter having a reading list that includes the Communist Manifesto and Main Kampf. The fact that it happened at a town-hall meeting. The fact that, when the House read the Constitution on the floor, she was given the First Amendment, the part that addresses peaceable assembly and redress of grievances. The fact that Giffords actually appears on her way to recovering from a bullet to the brain. It's an overwhelming amount of emotional angst, topped with the most tragic of miracles.
In lieu of anything more substantial, here is a profile of the victims of the shooting.
It's Sunday. A good time to do some praying.
In lieu of anything more substantial, here is a profile of the victims of the shooting.
It's Sunday. A good time to do some praying.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)